by Vicky Jones
"Momma, why d'you do that?" The little girl looked up at her mother, her eyes wide.
"Because he's dangerous. We don't talk to those with black faces, do you hear me?"
Evelyn's tiny, confused protests faded into the wind as she was dragged away, her shiny pink sandals churning up the dusty ground.
"And that's how it starts," Cuban whispered to himself.
Shona lifted her nose into the air and breathed in deeply, taking in the sweet aromas that were mingling in the warm summer breeze. She opened her eyes and caught sight of Elbie working his magic on the crowds and selling his crafts. She smiled, her fondness for the kindly old man growing by the day.
At that moment, the feminine outline of the most beautiful woman in Daynes emerged from a crowd of admiring townsfolk. Her hair shone in the bright light of the Alabama sun, her perfect cover-girl smile flashing at everyone who’d gathered around to offer her flowers and gifts for helping to organize the fundraiser for victims of the storm. She wore a pale yellow summer dress, complete with a pastel-lemon silk ribbon in her hair.
Shona fought the urge to look at her. Her heart fluttered, her head felt light and all she wanted to do was stride over to her and tell her exactly how she felt, but instead, she decided to wander back over to the riding section of the fete. As she got there, the sound of sobbing caught her attention. A small girl, no more than four years old, was crying hysterically just a few feet from where Rosie had been tethered. Her exasperated mother was in attendance, trying in vain to calm her.
"Hey." Shona crouched down to the little girl's level and smiled.
"She's just fallen over and scraped all up her legs!" her mother explained, upset at her child's obvious discomfort.
"You like horses?" Shona asked the young girl, who looked at Shona's open face and stopped crying.
"A little bit," she sniffed and wiped her nose on the back of her tiny hand.
"Well, how about you and your momma come with me to meet m'friend Rosie and if you'd like to, you can have a free ride on her, what d'you say?" Shona stood up, ready to lead the way. The little girl looked up at her mother, who nodded.
"Yes, please."
"Come on, then."
Shona led them around the adjoining wall between the riding arena and the stable where the mare was snuffling in her nose bag and drinking some water.
"Here's Rosie…wanna pet her?" Shona noticed the cuts on the little girl's knees. The little girl nodded, her tear-stained face brightening.
"How 'bout I lift you to sit on her and Mom…you, um–" Shona pointed to the cuts. It was the perfect distraction.
"She hadn't stopped cryin' until she saw you," the mother told her.
Shona got a clean, wet cloth and a Band-Aid, then lifted the little girl into Rosie's saddle. Her face beamed as Shona taught her about all the different parts of a horse – while her mother tended to the injuries, looking up every few seconds to check that her firm rubbing on her daughter's knees was not being noticed.
"Honey? Y'round here?" a deep male voice called out.
"We're in here, sweetie. It's my husband, Jack," the woman told Shona.
"There you are, honey. How're my girls doin'?"
Jack Edwards was in his early forties, had recently inherited his father's estate and was looking to invest his new money in the town. He tipped his hat to Shona, then walked straight over to his daughter.
"My God, she’s stopped cryin'! How in God's name d'you manage that?" Edwards exclaimed.
"All down to this young lady!" Mrs. Edwards nodded to Shona. "Sorry, what's your name?"
"Shona." She held her hand out for Edwards to shake.
"Well, Shona, you're my new best friend," he said, shaking her hand vigorously.
"The press are here, that's good." Ron Black stood near the refreshment stand drinking a glass of sweet tea next to Jeffrey Ellis, who preferred his usual tipple of scotch on the rocks.
"Yeah, it's goin' real well, don't you think?" Ellis replied.
"Some wanted today to fail." Ron nodded his head subtly in the direction of Kyle and Bruce who were standing in the distance chatting to Deputy Paul.
"But it didn't, so don't you worry about them!" Ellis reassured.
A deep booming voice sounded behind them.
"Ellis, my man! How in the goddamn hell are you?" Jack Edwards marched over to Ellis and Ron, extending his arm.
"Jack! You're looking well!" Ellis complimented, shaking his hand.
"Thank you, and how's your good lady wife?"
Ellis paused. "She's not been too good lately, Jack," he replied, his voice tinged with sadness. "Had the doctor 'round again last night but–" Ellis began explaining but was rudely cut off mid-sentence by the imposing figure of Larry Bruce.
"Edwards…Hi!" Bruce leaped in between Ellis and Ron and held out his broad right hand to Jack. Chloe stood a few paces behind her father, looking lost in her daydream as she scanned the crowds for the one face she wanted to see. As usual, Kyle stalked behind her like the shadow she just couldn't shake off.
"Larry…Kyle…Chloe, looking amazing as ever." Edwards shook all their hands one by one.
"Your wife here with you too?" Ellis asked, looking behind Edwards.
"There she is, over by the horse and that pretty young lady…Shona, I think her name was." Edwards turned around to see his giggling daughter trotting around the riding arena on Rosie, Shona gripping the tether as she led the horse. Chloe couldn't help her face breaking out into a huge smile, the affection she felt for Shona impossible to hide.
"She was fantastic with my daughter, Jeffrey! I tell you, this is a great event for the town."
They strolled to the riding arena, Kyle and Bruce trailing behind.
"Here she is! Did you have fun, sweetie?" Edwards scooped the little girl out of the mare's saddle. She had completely forgotten about her grazed knees.
"Can Shona and Rosie come visit us, please, Daddy?" Her parents both smiled.
"Of course they can," Edwards smiled at his daughter, then turned to Ellis. "I'd like to do some business with you real soon, and I mean a lot of business. I came over here to initially check it out up close. I'm lookin' to invest in real salt-of-the-earth family businesses. People like Shona and that old guy–Elbie, is it? They’ve made us real welcome today, and made my daughter feel real special!"
"That sounds good to us," Bruce said, reaching forward to shake his hand.
"Gentlemen…Oh, and ladies, could I take a picture?" Joe, the young reporter, stood in front of the group like an excited puppy, the huge flash on top of his camera making it wobble precariously in his shaking hands.
"Wait," Ellis interrupted, as people were shuffling together for the picture. "Shona…Hey SHONA! Come on, get in the picture…and bring Rosie!" Ellis grinned.
Shona jumped around when she heard her name hollered by Jeffrey Ellis. Joining the group, she stood on the very end of the line, with the mare on her left. The fear of being news for all of Alabama–and beyond, no doubt–to see, was temporarily forgotten, as the overriding emotion she felt that moment was the aching pain of having Chloe standing agonizingly close to her, less than six feet to her right.
Shona swallowed hard as a waft of Chloe's sweet perfume caught the breeze and nestled inside her nostrils. She breathed in impulsively, underestimating the effect it would have on her and, as soon as the picture was taken and Joe gave the all clear, she grabbed Rosie and made her excuses. Walking quickly back to the stable, she arrived seconds before feeling the gut-wrenching spasm ripple through her stomach, only subsiding on her tenth deep breath.
"Thanks a lot for what you did for this town today, Larry." Jack Edwards was getting ready to go home, patiently waiting for his little girl to have one last ride on her new best four-legged friend.
"It's our pleasure. Thanks for the donation to the cause."
"I can see Kyle has a thing for your daughter!" Edwards remarked, looking over Bruce's shoulder at Chloe, who was by the exit biddin
g farewell to some of the workers' wives.
"They'd make a fine couple, wouldn't they?" Bruce leaned in, grinning.
"Damn right. I mean, I don't know this Kyle, but you can tell he likes her! I want it to be that if I invest a lot of money, my clients will have the stability of using a company that will still be around after we kick the bucket!"
"Yeah?"
"And I think that company is going to be yours! With Kyle and Chloe at the wheel in the future, investors will be clambering over themselves to get a piece of it…They’re the future, and that's what I want to invest in!"
Larry Bruce smiled, hardly able to contain the swell of ambition inside him.
Chapter 55
Jesters was the town's local barbecue joint, serving the best fried chicken and soul food for miles around. Their fried catfish with hush puppies and slaw was the talk of Daynes; nowhere in town did it better. Later that Sunday evening, the revelers from the fete all congregated there to fill up on fresh crawfish, skillet cornbread and Jesters' famous buttermilk biscuits with sausage gravy. The place was packed to the rafters, the sound of carefree conversations and laughter hanging in the air. Children were pressing their sticky fingers up against the glass chiller underneath the counter, drooling over bowls of banana pudding, peach cobblers and plates of pecan pie. Chloe and Kyle made their way straight over to the bar to get a drink.
"You looked ravishing today," Kyle drawled, wanting to stroke her hair. She tilted her head and brushed his hand off, not flattered in the slightest. In fact, she was annoyed. She’d spent all day the embodiment of perfection, as expected, but eight hours of being the belle of the ball–in four-inch heels that were killing her feet–had exhausted her tolerance to the breaking point. Her eyes searched the crowd once again.
"Can I get you a drink, Miss Chloe?" Deputy Paul appeared at her other side.
"Just a peach juice, please. Is everybody here tonight?"
"Pretty much," Kyle replied. His eyes fixed on the waitress as she bent over to retrieve a glass from the bottom shelf.
"Well…I'm going to go and say hi to all the workers; it's thanks to them that today was so successful."
Chloe slipped away, her perfume leaving behind a lasting memory of her. Kyle stared at her long, slender legs, frustrated that his seduction of her wasn't moving as slickly as he had been led to believe it would. It was looking as if he was going to have to try harder…or a different tactic altogether.
"Elbie, you go home, it's been a long day. We haven't got much else to do now, go on," Shona insisted, Cuban nodding in agreement. It was almost 10 o'clock, and the three of them had been made to stay at the site to clean up the mountains of debris left after the fete had ended.
"OK, if you're sure?" Elbie said, rubbing his tired eyes. He stood his broom up against the wall.
"Yes, we're sure. Get home safe, OK?" Cuban said, helping him into his truck.
As they watched him leave, a new set of headlights approaching stung their eyes. A feeling of dread engulfed the two of them, Cuban praying that the approaching vehicle wasn't a green Ford truck.
Shona held her breath, hoping the car wasn't red.
"Who the hell can that be at this time?" Cuban asked, trying to make out the shape of the vehicle.
"It's Chloe," Shona said coolly, recognizing the shape of the chassis across the closing distance.
"You gon' be OK?" he asked, noticing her stony face.
"Yeah."
Chloe's car crunched through the gravel, pulling up a few feet in front of them. An age seemed to pass before the door opened a crack and she slid out of her seat. As she did so, her yellow dress caught the breeze and rucked up slightly, revealing the merest glimpse of her bare inside leg. It was torture for Shona, who bit the insides of her cheeks, her fingernails digging into her clammy palms as she counted to ten in her head.
"Hi." Chloe smiled at Cuban, then lingered her gaze on Shona.
"Evenin', ma’am," he replied, politely tipping his cap.
"I've been looking for you both. I went to the Birds’, but they said they hadn't seen you. How come you're not at Jesters, celebrating?"
"We weren't invited. We were told to stay here and clean up all the shit left behind." Shona's voice was flat and cold.
"By who?"
"Who do you think? Kyle! And that lil' sidekick of his, Paul!"
"He told me–"
"Told you what?" Shona fired back. "That we'd rather spend all night fillin’ trash bags? That sound right to you?"
"Hey, watch your tone!" Cuban whispered.
"I'm sorry about that, I surely am. I wouldn't have allowed that to happen if I'd known, not after I’d arranged for you to be the one in charge of the horses today. I knew you’d like that, so…"
Chloe fiddled with the cuff of her white leather driving glove.
"Look, you both have a difficult time here, I know that," she continued, locking onto Shona's angry eyes. "If you can find it in your hearts to trust me, I want to work on putting a good team around me. That's why I suggested to Jeffrey that we make Ron Black a manager, but you need to understand it's difficult with my father ultimately being in charge too! Please understand where I'm coming from. I really am trying my best. I even had made a kind of an arrangement with Kyle that you both, and Elbie, would be left to do your jobs. Have things not been better for you all lately?"
Shona looked away, knowing Chloe hadn't quite succeeded at that one.
"I thank you for tryin', ma’am. That can't have been easy for you," Cuban said.
"Well, how 'bout I give you two a ride? Get you safely home." She tipped her imaginary chauffeur's hat, trying to lighten the mood.
"That would be most generous of you, wouldn't it, Shona?" Cuban nudged her.
"Thank you, that would be…nice," she replied quietly.
Cuban shrugged. It was the best he was going to get out of her right now.
"Great, hop in!"
Chloe opened the passenger side door for Cuban to climb into the back seat, Shona in the front. She ran around the front of the car, the headlight beam shining through her almost see-through dress. Shona looked away again and swallowed hard as Chloe jumped into the driver’s seat and floored the gas pedal.
Back home at the Birds’ house, Cuban took Chloe's handbag and gloves and put them by the front door, then went into the kitchen to put a fresh pot of coffee on. The atmosphere in the car had been fractious all the way home, with Chloe making small talk about the fete and how much money they had raised for the town. Shona smiled in all the right places but still looked distant, which pained Chloe more than she could put into words.
"Here." He handed Chloe a mug of coffee and pulled a chair out at the kitchen table for her to sit on. Shona leaned against the kitchen sink, out of her eyeline. Cuban shook his head at her and sat opposite.
"Tom and Ruby in bed?" Chloe asked.
"I guess so. They have to get up pretty early to feed the animals," he replied.
"How's Storm after the, um, storm?" Chloe giggled at the unintentional humor of her question.
"She's fine," Shona replied, missing the joke entirely.
"Do Tom and Ruby need anything? They OK?"
"They lost a cow." Shona stared at the floor, silently counting the tiles.
"Oh." Chloe clasped her mug to warm her hands.
A minute went by agonizingly slowly, the ticking of the clock seemingly louder with every stroke.
"I heard there's a new peach pie in Ed's Diner. Wanna come try it out with me sometime? You're both welcome?" Chloe looked at Shona, refusing to give up.
"With regret, as you can understand, I don't do many public places in this town, but Shona–" Cuban looked over towards the sink.
"My treat?" Chloe added with a hopeful raise of her eyebrow.
Shona's resolve finally cracked.
"If you throw in a strawberry shake, I'm in," she replied, the hardness in her demeanor lifting, her tone still cool.
It's a start, Chlo
e thought.
Chapter 56
"Chloe."
"Kyle."
"Nice evening?"
"Yes, thank you." She began opening her Monday morning mail.
Kyle watched her closely.
"I'm sorry, is there a problem?" Chloe snapped, feeling the weight of his intrusive stare.
"I asked your father this morning if you got home OK and he said you didn't return until real late. I was concerned. You shouldn't be out late by yourself." He tried his best to sound sincere, but to Chloe, it just sounded hollow.
"Kyle, I'm a big girl, and for your information, I wasn't by myself. I was with…friends. Oh, and in the future, don't go asking about business that doesn't concern you."
Chloe slammed the mail down on her desk.
"I'm glad you and Miss Chloe seemed to clear the air last night. It was nice to see." Cuban smiled at Shona, who was washing her hands after finishing a particularly grubby job.
"Well, I got this new thing I'm trying when I get those feelings. It seems to be working so far. Helps me to put those thoughts aside, for the sake of our friendship." Shona tried to sound convincing.
"Unless she feels the same way?"
Cuban's words hit her heart like a jackhammer.
Shona blew her cheeks out just before she knocked on Chloe's door that afternoon.
"Come in," came the cheery voice from within.
"Shona." Chloe beamed, her eyes sparkling as her door opened. It got to Shona every time, her heart thudding in her chest so hard she could scarcely believe no one could see it through her thin, white undershirt.
"Ma’am. I got a message you wanted to see me?"
"Have a seat, please."
Shona sat down in the guest chair that had been pulled out ready for her. She coughed, waiting to be spoken to. Chloe, meanwhile, tried to look professional, rifling through her wafer-thin pile of notes.